The Crown’s Judgement

Difficult time's going on guys. Please stay at your homes and stay safe!

Shivika's POV -

The alarm. The single most important thing in my life right now and even that, on some days decide to ditch me. I was supposed to be in the deposition by this time today but no, my alarm had to ditch me and that's how I am sitting here, outside the conference room and waiting for my managing partner, Rajat sir to call me in.

" Madam, Rajat sir has called you." The peon finally made his way towards me. I had been waiting for more than an hour outside now which had got incredibly frustrating for me. This was no way of spending a Monday working without coffee.

" Thank you. Kaka one coffee in my cubicle please?" I asked him and he nodded, giving me a smile. Ramesh kaka, our peon was the first man I worked under in this firm when I was eighteen and collecting funds to go to law school but that is a story for another time.

" Shivika, I did not expect this level of tardiness from you. But since this is the first time it has happened in four years, I am willing to overlook it. Make sure that you actually be where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be." Rajat sir schooled me as I walked into the conference room.

" I am extremely sorry sir. My alarm did not go off somehow but what happened in the deposition? I saw our client walk down the corridor with a huge smile plastered on her face." I curiously asked him.

He did not say anything, just handed me the written copy of the deposition which I started to read as I took a seat. The first two pages seemed like a usual deposition but the third one spilled it all. The client's sister who was also the respondent had confessed extorting money from her in frustration.

" For the love of god, sir this was extremely good!" I exclaimed, jumping out of my chair. We had almost won the case and it was paying us good.

" You are taking this to court tomorrow morning." He asked me but I looked at him in confusion.

" To court? But sir, going to trial makes no sense. We could reach a heavy settlement while going to court will not only tarnish Jessica's reputation but will also put her CEO position in jeopardy when the board of directors claim that she is not competent enough to hold the position. I mean if I were on the board, I would definitely twist this situation claiming that she was made a fool by her own sister to claim that CEO's position." I honestly told him my views.

That is the kind of relationship sir and I shared. He was my mentor in every true sense and I could discuss anything with him without ever thinking about what he will thing about me.

" Then I taught you well. You know what to do. Go and get started on the settlement draft. We get over with this by today afternoon because in the evening, we have to deal with an extremely high profile client and this time and you might be dealing with your very first eight figure case." Sir stood up, handed me the draft and walked out.

"High profile case? Sir has never talked about anyone before like way. Who is it, the queen of England?" I muttered sarcastically as I walked to my office. Yes, second year associates have their own offices in the firm who particularly performed well. Proudly, I was one of them.

I was pretty engrossed with drafting the settlement offer when I heard a knock. Looking up, I found out Arpita, a second year associate and one of my friends standing.

" Since when you not barge in here like you own the place?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow as I stopped typing and she made her way to the couch.

" I won in court today! Destroyed the prosecution and how. You remember Hemant Pant?" She asked, trying to but completely failing in controlling her excitement.

" Yes, the one who was trying to act over-smart with us last month will that insurance thing?" I think I remembered but had to confirm anyway. That was a nasty man who kept commenting about our sexuality.

Arpita nodded in a yes and continued, " His half of the precedents were wrongly cited and in the end moment, his client broke and spoke the truth on the stands. I wish you had looked at his face when he realized that he had lost a case from a woman."

" He had it coming. Was a jerk anyway. So the next treat is on you." I muttered and then continued drafting the offer, after all it had to be done.

I saw her nod and then she took out her phone to do something as I rolled my eyes.

" I hope you do realize that it is still time to work. Winning one case does not suffice the day." I taunted her and this time, she rolled her eyes.

" You'll be thankful that I did take out my phone and took a picture of yours. I will change my name if you don't get at least 200 likes on Instagram. Look at this, just once." She extended her arm towards me once and I gave her the fakest smile I could muster up.

" Fine fine. Stop thinking of a million ways to kick me out of your office, I am going. Bye." She said, giving and getting up and walked out.

" Drama queen." I announced as I drafted the final clause of the offer and mailed it to Rajat sir. I had to run it by him first, after all he was the first chair of the case and that it when my phone went off.

" Shivika, if you could please come to my cabin right now, that'd be great." Sagar sir, one of the senior partners asked and of course there was no way I could say no.

" Sure sir. I will be there in a minute." I replied, and walked out of my office to sir's which was on the fourteenth floor whereas the second year associates offices were on tenth.

I knocked and he asked me to enter.

" Shivika take these files and make sure that you are through with them before you fly out today evening, alright?" He said, pointing towards the bundle kept on his desk. But what does he mean by fly out? Where was I supposed to go I had absolutely no idea hence I voiced my doubts to him.

" Did Rajat not tell you? You are going to Udaipur with him regarding a case which mind you is a very high profile one. In fact, you get those settlement papers signed and go home to pack." He instructed me once again and I was borderline starting to panic.

" I'll leave sir." I said and from there, walked straight to Rajat sir's office who seemed busy with a meeting of his own but asked me to come inside anyway.

" Yes Shivika?" He asked as I went to stand by his side.

" Sir, are we going to Udaipur today evening?" I whispered to him and he gave me a blank look for a second before nodding in a yes.

" You get that case settled, pack your bags and come to office then, we will leave from here." He muttered back and I nodded, leaving.

" It's not like anyone really cares about me at home or waits for me except for my own bed." I spat bitterly to myself as I was walking back to my office.

I was expecting the settlement meet to get over in about half an hour but I was clearly wrong. The defense had been pushing the matter and kept denying the charges.

" I am saying this one final time. If your client does not accept this settlement offer, we are going to court which will not be pretty for you since you have already confessed in the deposition. I give you thirty seconds to accept or deny. You see, I don't really have all day for this." I addressed the lawyer who finally gave into the pressure.

Completing all the formalities took about an hour too and by the time we were done, it was already 4 in the evening.

" Thank you so much Miss Kulkarni. It was great working with you." Our client, Hema Shukla said, giving me a smile.

" The pleasure was all mine ma'am. I hope you only look towards us for any future assistance that you may require. Will always be happy to help." I returned the smile and gave a small nod, asking for her leave.

As I started to drive towards home to pack, my phone rang. It was Rajat sir calling.

" Shivika where are you? Get to the airport quickly." Sir was almost scolding me with no fault of mine.

" I am going home to pack sir." I replied, driving through the Mumbai traffic which was now starting to give me a strong headache.

" We don't have the time. Make your way straight to the airport. You can buy clothes in Udaipur but we cannot afford to get late under any circumstance." He said very sternly, leaving absolutely no room for argument.

" I will be there soon sir." I said, hanging up and somehow made way to Arpita's building which was really close by, parked my car there and then took a cab for the airport. I couldn't believe that Rajat sir, who is always so organized and up to date with his schedules forgot to inform to me anything about going outstation.

It did take me about another twenty minutes to reach to the airport where I spotted him waiting for me.

" I am so sorry sir." I apologized even when I was not at fault but things you do for passion and a little bit of money!

" It's alright. Let's get in." He replied and I nodded as the three of us made way inside. Sir's PA, Yash was also with us.

" Sir I don't understand. Why are we not getting our boarding passes issued?" I asked as he was leading to walk towards some different direction.

" Because we are not flying commercial. Our client was generous enough to offer us their plane to travel on such a short notice." He replied and I widened my eyes. Who on Earth are our clients? Ambanis?

After that, I maintained silence till the time we were boarding and that's when I saw the seal of The Royal family of Udaipur on the plane.

" Our clients are the Rajputs?" I voiced my shock and seemed like I was not the only one. Yash had uttered the exact same words and Rajat sir simply nodded at the two of us as we boarded.

The air hosts and hostesses were even better dressed than me, giving me a complete complex. Here I was, sitting in my crumbled shirt and trousers, barely managing to walk properly in my stilettos on land and there were walking so gracefully 20000 feet above see level. How do they do this was completely out of my understanding but the one hour twenty five minutes flight came to an end so soon. It had somehow just read the third file out of the bundle from Taran sir's office.

Shivika's Look -

It was a land dispute between the Royal family of Udaipur and a self-claimed king's illegitimate son which made me roll my eyes so bad that it may have permanently gone at the back of my head. I could smell scandal from miles apart.

Soon the announcement was made for landing and before I knew it, we were sitting in a limo who was taking us to the royal palace which would be our home for the next two days.

" Sir, this is a scandal." I said as I finished reading the last file. It had been half an hour since we were sitting in the car.

" We are talking about a royal family here Shivika, of course there is a scandal. Dare say, not just a scandal, there are probably ten more scandals we may discover while trying to put rest to one." He said and I nodded in agreement. Those rich and with power ruled the world and that came with scandals.

" And while we are at it, since we will be living with the royals for two days, I expect you two to be on your best behavior. Yash, try to zone out a little less and Shivika, there will many times where you would want to burst with anger and scream at the person standing in front of you but you will control yourself. These are no ordinary people and we need to give them the respect they demand." He said, directing the last part towards me.

" I will be on my best behavior sir but respect cannot be demanded, it has to be earned." I said, closing the files and got a murderous glare.

" You will save this aggression for the court." Was the lecture I got as we got down from the car. We had reached the palace and huge was not even the correct word for it. It was extremely beautiful with mirror work all around and the heritage intact. There must be more than ten wings in the palace, it was that huge.

" Khamma Ghani sa, padharo." A man greeted us as he walked towards us. I managed to pull up a smile. It hadn't been one minute in the palace and I was already feeling suffocated, How was I supposed to spend two days here?

We were taken to the main hall where the king and the queen or as they say, Ranaji and Ranisa were present to greet us.

" Namaste ji. Welcome, welcome." Ranaji Kunal Rajput greeted us with folded hands.

" Namaste Ranaji. Thank you. This is my team and we will be working together with you for a while now to resolve the issues of the palace." Rajat sir said very humbly.

" Of course, of course but before that I am sure you all must be tired from the journey. Ramsevak will show you all your rooms. Dinner is at 9 in the dining hall in wing three. We will take your leave for now. Please rest." Ranisa said, giving us a small smile as the man, Ramsevak ji started to show us our rooms.

" There will be staff placed outside your room, please ring this bell if you need anything and they will be there." He dropped me to my room and explained this weird system but I thankfully nodded anyway.

I took in the room for a while but then eventually got bored and that's how I found myself engrossed in the files once again. Details were what mattered in our profession and that is not something one can pick by reading just once.

There were a lot of accusations made on the family and their business by the said man. I had no option but to start making notes and so I did but what I did not realize was the time and by the time I was done, the hour hand of the clock had struck 11 and that is when I realized how hungry I was.

" The dinner time has passed for the Royals Shivika but I am sure there must be something open outside to eat." I muttered to myself as I got up and left my room, walking towards the exit of the palace but one of the corridors was so dark that I could barely keep walking properly and then finally hit a wall.

" For being a royal family, these people don't seem to realize the need of having bulbs and who on earth builds walls in the middle of nowhere? Stupid rich people" I cursed, collecting myself. Somehow I had managed not to fall.

My rambling was cut short when a flash of light made it's way to my face, immediately making me cover my eyes because of the suddenness of it.

" I am extremely sorry Miss, did I hurt you?" I heard a deep voice with a strangely musical baritone which made me look towards it's owner who had a frown on his face and stress lines on forehead and yet somehow managed to maintain that stupid royal grace and posture and so I kept looking, not really realizing my stupid actions.

Hey guys! This is the first chapter. Please tell me your honest reviews. I will really appreciate it. I love you all. Until next time. Bye!!